A few food related tags...

Lately Link has been tagging me if I go to take him form his enlosure to his feeding cage. Is this normal? Do most bps get a bit overly eager when it's feeding time? Am I doing something wrong? I'd be glad to recieve some replies, thanks!

Have you handled the food before you handled him? Possibly feed Link in his cage (there is some debate on that).

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Originally Posted by lars5277

Have you handled the food before you handled him? Possibly feed Link in his cage (there is some debate on that).

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Well asside from carrying in the the card-board container the mouse comes in I haven't handled the mice. I am feeding live by the way.

I feed 21 snakes in cage. Less hassle and less tags.. everyone eats too.

Consider switching to Frozen/thawed (nother big debate there). I pull one out of the fridge, put it in a ziploc bag in a warm sink of water for 20 min. I dangle it on a set of tongs for about 10 seconds and shes good to go. Its cheaper, easier and faster from my prospective. That and my youngest had his heart broke when he realized Salina wasn't friends with "Mickey" and she wasn't hugging him!

I will try that. He's never takne it before, but I think I'll just have to make usre it's really warm.

The F/T should be warm to the touch. About 80-90 degrees at least. the snake will take to it when it's hungry. There are also some other tips if you search the forums for getting a snake to change over. I also don't want to lose my $75 snake to a $2 mouse or rat if you know what I mean.

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Originally Posted by Shelby

I feed 21 snakes in cage. Less hassle and less tags.. everyone eats too.

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Ditto that for the 275 +/- animals in my care. If I get bit from a feeding response, it's my own fault.

K~

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Originally Posted by KLG

Ditto that for the 275 +/- animals in my care. If I get bit from a feeding response, it's my own fault.

K~

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But then don't the snakes associate your hands with food? I mena that sounds great if you don't handle your snakes that much, but I want to. I want Link to be able to be handled.

Perhaps Link is just ready to eat and a bit over eager. Some of our female balls are very hyper-alert anytime on feeding day and there are a couple that I would not want to have to transfer anywhere LOL. We feed in their enclosures and actually don't handle them much at all on feeding day so by the time night falls they are all out and ready to snarf down their prey (some eat f/t, some eat live).


~~Jo~~

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Originally Posted by First_time_herp

But then don't the snakes associate your hands with food? I mena that sounds great if you don't handle your snakes that much, but I want to. I want Link to be able to be handled.

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No.

If you ONLY opened the cage to feed, THEN maybe your snake would be prone to bite ..while it is in it's cage..

I handle my snakes about once a week, and they do not think I am food.

That whole thing is mostly a myth.

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Originally Posted by First_time_herp

But then don't the snakes associate your hands with food? I mena that sounds great if you don't handle your snakes that much, but I want to. I want Link to be able to be handled.

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No. My snakes associate TONGS with food. I don't hand feed them. While they are fed in their enclosures & do exhibit feeding responses when I first open the cage, I also know each individual well enough to be able to pick them up w/o getting bit...and this encompasses everything from a baby radiated ratsnake to my 15' (and growing) female retic.

Part of being a successful snake keeper is learning how to read, interpret & anticipate your snake's behavior. Learn how to work with the snake on its terms - don't force it to eat in a strange environment just because bad husbandry advice gets bandied about as gospel.

Ball pythons are typically shy animals and can be sensitive (how's that for PC?) feeders. Taking your snake out of a familiar environment & putting it in a plain, empty box can be stressful. Adding a rodent to that situation can be even more stressful. Ball pythons aren't retics. They aren't Burms. They aren't scrubs, they aren't anacondas. If you get bit, big deal, it's not going to kill you. Make life easier on your snake.

Just my $2.00 (includes fuel surcharge)

K~

Yes you definitely learn your snakes' body language.

By now I usually (not always! lol) can tell who is bluffing and who really wants a piece of me.. also who reacts in what way to food being introduced.

Salina gets fed in her cage every week. We also grab her from her cage. Everyone in the family does. Me, my wife, my 9 yr old son, and 8 yr old daughter. No one has been tagged in this house.

Kashmire has always been fed live in his own enclosure. He gets fed on Saturdays, and is not handled until Monday at the earliest. To date, he has NEVER been aggressive or tried to strike me on non-feeding days (nor on feeding days for that matter).


On feeding day, I simply check which hide he's in and drop the mouse in the other end of the enclosure. Kashmire takes care of the rest.

Speaking of learning body language, I've learned that Kashmire does not like it when he's out and about and I drop the mouse in. He's more likely to refuse feed if he's in the open. If he's safely ensconsed in one of his hides, he's never missed a meal. Out in the open, he's missed several. I guess he likes the sneak attack, and I'm sure a lot of it has to do with his sense of security.

Thanks for all the advice guys, I'll make sure to try everything said.

I think we're lucky (at least so far) with ours. She has never tagged any of us (but still time I guess, she's only 7 months). We feed her in her enclosure normally but she has also eaten for us "on display" a couple of times when our small nephew came over to watch the feeding process.


It was feeding day and we had her out anyway downstairs and as my daughter's room is small and couldn't accommodate the "audience" of 6 adults and a small child. We put her on a towel on the floor and after I'd said "I don't suppose for a minute she'll take it" she did her thing as perfectly as she always does. When it was all down we removed her on the towel and put her in the viv. I wondered if she might regurgitate later but she didn't. She's done this once again for her audience ... but it isn't something we'd normally do.

We feed the balls and the bci in their tanks...everything from mice to rats to small baby bunnies in the case of the bci...and everything from f/t to p/k to live depending on which snake we're feeding.

The snakes all come out for regular handling and so far any tags or attempt to nip have been more about that snake's specific attitude or a mistake on our part in not reading the snake and the situation properly. We do have a different routine on feeding day and the snakes seem to recognize the difference between that and a normal handling session. We also have a routine when we go to handle them and by sticking to it religiously the snakes again seem to recognize it's nothing they need to feel defensive about.

We feed with hemostats and have one of our snakes that will strike at an empty hemostat with no prey present. I guess she is somehow able to recognize that the "shiney thing" equates to feeding time. She is a great snake to handle with no attempts to strike at us otherwise.

i feed my guy in his cage with a pair of long tongs. this way my hands are not really even in the cage and he is more worried about the mouse on the other end anyway. i handle him everyday and have not had any aggresion towards my hands coming in to get him

Jo, maybe your girl can smell the presence of rodent on the tongs and that's why she strikes?

Like everyone else, I've fed in the enclosure for a year now and have never once been struck or hissed at. My guy has an amazing temperment and the routines on feeding day versus handling days are so vastly different that there's ZERO room for error.

If for some crazy reason he's going to strike at me one day, it's going to be because he's pissed off, not because he thinks it's time to eat. There's just no way he could get the wrong idea.

Could be Erica, could be though I wash them very well after each feeding night and she'll strike at them just cleaned but who knows how much actual smell might be left that we can't pick up on but she can. Either that or she's just used to them as we've had her since she was very small and always used these exact hemostats to offer her prey from.


~~Jo~~

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

We also have a routine when we go to handle them and by sticking to it religiously the snakes again seem to recognize it's nothing they need to feel defensive about.

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According to Dave & Tracy Barker (VPI) balls don't strike as part of a defensive response. It sounds like Bran is maybe one of those that does though. :)